A comparative study on energy use and cost analysis of potato production under different farming technologies in Hamadan province of Iran Morteza Zangeneh, Mahmoud Omid * , Asadollah Akram Department of Agricultural Machinery Engineering, Faculty of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Schoolof Agriculture & Natural Resources, University of Tehran, Karaj, Iran article info Article history: Received 9 October 2009 Received in revised form 31 January 2010 Accepted 15 March 2010 Available online xxx Keywords: Potato Farming technology Energy use efficiency Economic analysis abstract The aim of this study was to determine the amount of inputeoutput energy used in potato production and to make an economic analysis of potato production in Hamadan province, Iran. Data for the production of potatoes were collected from 100 producers by using a face to face questionnaire method. The population investigated was divided into two groups. Group I was consisted of 68 farmers (owner of machinery and high level of farming technology) and Group II of 32 farmers (non-owner of machinery and low level of farming technology). The results revealed that 153071.40 MJ ha 1 energy consumed by Group I and 157151.12 MJ ha 1 energy consumed by Group II. The energy ratio, energy productivity, specific energy, net energy gain and energy intensiveness were calculated. The net energy of potato production in Group I and Group II was 4110.95 MJ ha 1 and 21744.67 MJ ha 1 , respectively. Cost analysis showed that total cost of potato production in Groups I and II were 4784.68 and 4172.64 $ ha 1 , respectively. The corresponding, benefit to cost ratio from potato production in the surveyed groups were 1.09 and 0.96, respectively. It was concluded that extension activities are needed to improve the effi- ciency of energy consumption in potato production. Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Potatoes (Solanum tuberosum L.) are grown worldwide under a wide range of altitude, latitude and climatic conditions than any other major food crop. No other crop can match the potato in its production of food energy and food value per unit area [1]. Potatoes have become increasingly important in the developing countries for both sustenance and income. The United Nations called 2008 as the International Year of the potato in order to boost its plantation which has a significant role to decrease hunger of people all over the world [2]. Yet, the potato plant has one of the heaviest demands for fertilizer inputs over other vegetable crops. For instance, the percentages of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) requirements for potato cultivation are, respectively, 100, 100 and 33% greater than that required for tomato or pepper productions [3]. Potato is grown in countries where the prevailing mean air temperature is around 15e18  C during the growing season and rainfall or irrigation provides ample water [4e8]. Recent publications have shown the importance of the potato as a global food crop, ranking fourth among crops with an overall annual production of nearly 327 million tonnes and about 19 million hectares planted. In developing countries, production had actually doubled in the past 15 years, so that, for the first time, over 50 percent of the potato crop was grown in the developing countries. Consumption of this crop in EU countries has a decreasing trend, but in the developing countries it has an increasing rate, per capita consumption, from 10 kg in 1961 to 22 kg in 2003. In spite of these trends, the average consumption of potato in developing countries is still 25% of its EU counterpart. China, Russian Federation, India, United States, Ukraine and Germany are the major potato producers. The potato is also cultivated in Poland, Netherlands, France, United Kingdom, Canada and Iran [9]. Based on FAO statistics, 350 million tonnes of potatoes were now consumed worldwide each year. In 2008, Iran produced about 5 million tonnes of potatoes in 176,000 ha [10]. Potatoes are the single most important agricultural commodity in Hamadan province. In 2008, the potato was planted in 25,503 ha of this province under irrigated conditions [10]. The relation between agriculture and energy is very close. Agriculture itself is an energy user and energy supplier in the form of bio-energy [11]. The size of the population engaged in agricul- ture, the amount of arable land and the level of mechanization are the most important factors on the energy utilization in the agri- cultural sector [12]. A wide range of energy forms are used directly such as diesel fuel, water pumping and water for irrigation, and indirectly such as fertilizers and pesticides. Other energy inputs are * Corresponding author. Tel.: þ98 261 2801038, þ98 912 3611832(mobile); fax: þ98 261 2808138. E-mail address: omid@ut.ac.ir (M. Omid). URL: http://utcan.ut.ac.ir/member/omid.aspx Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Energy journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/energy 0360-5442/$ e see front matter Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.energy.2010.03.024 Energy 35 (2010) 2927e2933